Two detained for attacking Kailash Kher during concert

Vijayanagara police detained two persons for allegedly attacking singer Kailash Kher during his concert in Karnataka’s Hampi on Sunday, officials said.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, the accused were seen throwing a bottle at Kher, and the staff was seen removing the water bottle from the stage.

Police said two people were detained, and an investigation is going on. Police said the accused were allegedly unhappy with the singer for not singing Kannada songs during the event and attacked in anger.

“Two locals - Pradeep, 22, and Surah, 21 - were detained in this regard, and their statements have been recorded,” said a senior police officer.

In a video, the singer could be seen performing when the bottle flew towards him but missed by a whisker and dropped on the stage behind him. Not distracted by this, the singer continued to perform. Seconds later, an official was seen removing the half-filled water bottle from the stage, the video showed. HT has seen the video and can verify its authenticity.

Kher’s performance was part of a colourful cultural event organised every evening for three days during the Hampi Utsav 2023 at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hampi in the Vijayanagara district of Karnataka.

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai inaugurated the annual celebration on January 27.

“Following a complaint from Kannada and Culture Department, first information report (FIR) was filed against the duo for creating a public nuisance,” Superintendent of police Shrihari Babu said on Monday evening.

Later, Kher shared a video of himself performing at the Hampi event with a caption in Hindi, “When we sang in honour of the late great Kannada star Puneeth Rajkumar, the entire crowd got emotional. They sang and swayed with us as fans celebrated the legacy of the actor.”

In that video, Kher was seen singing in Kannada.